William Henry Withrow was a minister in the Methodist church who dedicated his life to exemplifying the spirit of the Bible within his community and to recording the activities of Methodist missionaries, writers, and preachers in Canada and in Britain. Whether he wrote fiction, history, travel books, or biographies, he instilled in his writing his absolute faith in Methodism, at the same time respecting the traditions of other Christian denominations.

Withrow was born in Toronto on 6 August 1839. His father, James Withrow, was a Nova Scotian of United Empire Loyalist descent; his mother, Ellen Sanderson Withrow, was originally from Ireland. William received his early education at the Toronto Academy. He then attended Victoria College, Cobourg (the Methodist college of the University of Toronto), becoming a Methodist minister in 1862 and receiving B.A. (1863), M.A. (1864), and D.D. (1880) degrees. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada...